The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-31

they got into rank quarrel about the color
| of that obeliSk. One man said it was whlte,
another man said it was green, another man
said it was blue, AMI when they were in the
very heat of the controversy more lntelll,
gent traveller came and said: "Gentlamen.
have seen that obelisk, and YOU are all right
and YOU are all wrong Why didn't you
walk all around the obelisk"
| Look out for the man who sees only one
side of religious truth. Look out for the
man who never walks around about these
great theories Of God and eternity and the
dead. He will be bigot inevitably--the
man who only sees one side. There IS no
man more to be pitied than he who has in
his head lust one idea-no more, no less.
| More light, less sectarianisn. There is moth
ing that will so soon kill blgotry as sunshine
| Gods sunshine.
II. So have set before you what I con.
slider to be the causes of bigotry. have set
before yon the origin of this great evll:
What are some of the baleful effects! First
of all it cripples investigation. You are
/ wrong, and I am right, and that ends it. No
taste for exploration, no spirit of investlga-
ton. From the glorious realm Of Gods
truth, over which all archangel might fly
from eternity to eternity and not reach the
| limit, the man shuts himself out and dies, q
blind mole under a corn shock. 1t stops all
| investigation.
While each denom:nati of Christians Is
to present all the truths of the Bible, it seems
to me that God has given to each denomlna-
| tion an especial mission to give particular
| emphasis to some one doctrine; and so the
Calvinistic churches must present the soVer-
| eighty of God, and the Arminian church
must present mans free agency, and the
EPISCOPAL churches must present the import
! ance of order and solemn ceremony and the
| Baptist churches must present the necessity
Of ordinances, and the Congreg ational church
must present the responsibility Of the lndl-
yiduaf member and the Methodist church
must show what holy enthusiasm and hearty
congregational singing can accomplish:
While each denomination of Christians must
set forth all the doctrincs of the Bible, feel
it is especially incumbent upon each denoml-
nation to put particular emphasis upon some
one doctrine.
| Another great damage done by the secta-
| rianism and bigotry of the church Is that IL
: disgusts people with the Christian religion
| Now, my friends the Church of God was
never intended for a war barrack People
are afraid of riot. You go down the street
| and you see an excitement, and missiles NY
| ing through the air, and you hear the shock
of firearms. Doyou, the peaceful and in
dustrious citizen, go through that street!
'Oh, no." you will say I'll go around the
block" Now, men come and look upon this
narrow path TO heaven, and sometimes see
the ecclesiastical b-ikbats flying every
whittier, and they say: We'll, guess I'll take
the broa,l road; if it is so rough, and there is
so much sharp Sho otiEg on the narrow road,
guess Ill try thl brol roll. "
Francis !. so hated the Lutherans that ne
said if he thought there was one drop OF
Lutheran blood in his veins he would pune
ture them and let that drop out. Just as long
as there is so n.u Ii hostility between denoml-
nation and denomination, or between one
proteSSed Christian and another, or between
one church and another, just so long men
will be diSguSted with the Christian religion
and say: If that is religion, want none OF
it."
Again, bigotry and soctar;anism do great
damage in the fact that they hinder the tri.
umph of the Gospel. Oh, how much wasted
ammunition, how many men Of Splrndld i'll.
telect have given their whole life to c>ntrO'
versia disputes, when, if they Ind given
their f. TO something practical, ttey might
have been vIStly Use III. Suppose this morn
ing, while speak, there were common en-
envy coming up the bay through the NarrowS,
and all the forts arouul New York began 10
fire into each othcr-you w0ull cry out,
"National suicide! Why don't those forts
blaze away in one direction, AMI that against
the common enemy" And yet l sometimes
see in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ
strange thing going on-church against
church, minister against minister, dcnomlna-
ton against denomination, firing away INTO
their own fort, OF the fort which ought
to be on the same side, instead Of conccntrat-
ing their energy and giving one mighty and
everlasting vo!ley against the navleS OF dark
ness riding up through the bay!
| 90 out sometimes in the summer, and l
find two beehiveS, and these two hives are III
a quarrel. I come near enough, hot TO be
stung, but come just near enough to hear
the controversy, and one beehive says That
field of clover is the sweetest" and an.
clover is the sweetest" l come i'll be-
tween them, and say: stop this quarrel: if
You like that field of clover best. go there; if
you like that field of clover best, go there;
but let me tell you that that hive which gets
the most honey is the best hive So | come
out between the churches of the Lord Jesus
Christ. One denomination Of Christians
saws : "That field of Christian doctrine is
best" and another says " This field of Chris
tian doctrine is best" Well, I say go
where you get the most honey" That is the
best church which gets tho most honey OF
Christian grace for the heart, and the most
honey of Christian usefulness for the life.
Besides that, if you want to build up any
denomination, you will never build it up by
trying to pull some other down. Intolerance
never put anything down. How much has
intolerance accomplished, for instance,
against the Methodist Church! For long
years her ministry were forbidden the pull
pits of Great Britain. Why was it that so
many of them preached in the fields! Sim
p'y because they could not get into the
churches. And the name of the church was
given in derision and as sarcasm. The crit
Us of the church said: They have no order,
they have no met cd in, their Worship and
the critics, therefore, in irony called them
..nlathndiSts -
l am told that in A|tor library. New York,
kept as curiosites, there are TOT books anu
pamphlets against Methodism. Did intoler.
ance stop that church! No; it is either first
or second amid the denominations of Chris
tendon, her missionary stations in all parts
of the world, her men not only important in
religious trusts, but important also in
secular trusts Church marching on, and
the more intolerance against it, the faster it
marches
What did Intolerance accomplish against
the Baptist Church! Ii laughing scorn and
tirale could have destroyed the church it
would not to day have disciple left.
The BaptiStS were hurled out Of Boston IN
the oilen times. Those who sympathized
with them We're confined. and when petition
was offered asking lrnency in their behalf
all men who signed it were indicted Has in
tolerance stopred the Baptist Church, The
last statistics in regard to it showed about
10000 churches and about $500. .O00 communl-
cantS. Intolerance never put down anything.
In England a law was made against the
Jew England thrust back the Jew and
thrust down the Jew, and declared that no
Jew should hold an Official position. What
came of it Were the Jews destroyed : Was
their religion o"erthrown No. Who be-
came prime minister of England years
ago! Who was the Eext to the throne: Who
lii tL,,,, 1,..,o Ia